Best Game Plan: Caution

When it comes to courting pro sports teams, Oxnard is a lot like Charlie Brown: No matter how many times its plans fall flat, the city is always ready to try again.

The latest team to get city officials doing the wave is the Dallas Cowboys. The National Football League team is considering holding two weeks of its summer training camp at a city practice field. The Cowboys recently sent representatives to check out the field at the Residence Inn by the Marriott hotel in northern Oxnard. City Manager Ed Sotelo expects a decision any day.

“They were very pleased with the area,” Sotelo told The Times--but they also visited sites at Cal State Fullerton and Cal State Long Beach.

Forgive us if we’re a bit slow to stand up and holler. Oxnard’s record with sports franchises has been a field of fumbles.

The practice field that the Cowboys are considering is the same one that the city spent more than $1 million to prepare for the Oakland Raiders, who practiced at the site from 1985 to 1995. The Raiders paid just $1 a year to rent the 14-acre parcel. The city expected that visiting fans would pump revenue into surrounding businesses, but the Raiders hung black tarps around the practice field to protect their privacy, so the windfall from spectators never came.

More recently, in 1998, the Pacific Suns minor league baseball team slid in from Palm Springs, where the team was known for such wacky promotions as “nude night” and “drag queen night.” It set up shop at Oxnard College, despite vigorous booing from residents of a nearby mobile home park, and toned down its antics. But in less than a year, the Suns struck out in a flurry of debts, lawsuits and management errors.

There may be benefits in having a pro team in town--if the players behave themselves and if taxpayers don’t get stuck with the bill.

Recalling the unhappy experience with the Raiders, Mayor Manuel Lopez says the city must win from any arrangement with the Cowboys. How much the team would pay in rent, if anything, has not been discussed.

We say check it out carefully. Optimism is a good thing--but keep your eye on the ball.